Kids Clothes

Monday, August 1, 2011

Giveaway and Farbenmix upcycle ideas

***Giveaway Complete 8/8/11**

I have a bit of an obsession with up-cycling tee shirts. I think an old worn out tee is the best craft medium of all time. Super soft and comfy, available in abundance, and such a lovely way to immortalize an old loved object that has perhaps passed it's prime. Tees are especially wonderful for upcycling into children's clothing. A large shirt provides enough fabric for almost limitless kiddo attire options. Maybe down-cycling would be a more fitting term in such cases. I am always on the lookout for patterns that lend themselves to such a use. It's no surprise that Farbenmix patterns comprise a large part of my go-to list. The story goes that designer Sabine Pollhen began sewing for her own child by re-purposing hand-me-downs clothes. Here are a couple of my current faves:

This Brooklyn Tank Top was reclaimed from a tee once belonging to my brother. The skirt is another Farbenmix faveorite, the Insa. The outer skirt is an old pair of my jeans and the inner skirt was cut from the same Itchy & Scratchy tee.

My hope is that the raw denim edges will fray out with wash and wear, giving this skirt a bit of a punky look. I will let you know how it goes.

Another Brooklyn/Insa combo, this time as a dress. I simply straightened the hem of the tank and omitted the waistband of the skirt, sewing the two together.

It's former life: This green band tee was much loved by it's owner but fell victim to an untimely ink stain. I convinced her to let me take the scissors to it, saying it was for her daughter's greater good. It turned out to be just one Insa panel shy of the full outer skirt so I threw in the bottom half of an old Dallas stars shirt for contrast. (Still saving the top half for that for a hockey season outfit)

Here we are at the beach in another Brook-Insa dress. (Insa-Brook?) This time I folded over the waist band and encased a loop of elastic. I am not sure it needs it, but it gives a bit of a different style. I also omitted the outer skirt since the top fabric is very lightweight and I'm not sure it would have held up the weight of a double skirt.

It's former life: The skirt and the ties are cut from an old maternity shirt my neighbor asked me to "see what I could do with". She was impressed with how nicely it complimented this zodiac baby tee that I was not quite ready to let go of. It was hard to chop up, but it was doing nothing for my muffintop.

On to the giveaway! In the spirit of upcycling, I am sending out an upcycle "kit" from my very own stash to one lucky winner. This prize includes 10 "Upcycle" tags and an awesome thrift-store score, this Dr. Seuss adult medium tee, just waiting to be turned into an adorable outfit for your little one.

Could I say upcycle one more time? Yes I can, UPCYCLE. It's not even a word. Here's how to enter:

You can enter up to four times, but for each entry you need to post a separate comment below. I am turning on comment numbering and I will use http://www.random.org to pick a winning post. Look for the announcement in my post next Monday.
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